Within Decades, Cancer Will Hardly Kill Anyone Under 80

Especially if people heed aspirin advice: experts
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 18, 2015 2:15 PM CST
Within Decades, Cancer Will Hardly Kill Anyone Under 80
Experts analyze lymph cells at Allison's Immunology lab at the University of Texas' MD Anderson Cancer Center on Friday, Oct. 18, 2013, in Houston.   (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Marie D. De Jes?s)

Today, cancers are "becoming either preventable or effectively curable," a researcher notes—and that means that by 2050, hardly anyone under 80 will die of such diseases, a study says. "This is a projection of what is already happening," the researcher, David Taylor, says, according to Metro. "Lifestyle changes," "protective technologies," and improved therapies will pave the way, the study notes. Things could move even faster if people follow advice to take aspirin daily, according to the study—though some have questioned that advice, given aspirin's link to ulcers and stomach bleeding, Yahoo UK reports.

But another researcher who led the study is standing firm in comments to the Daily Mail. "Taking aspirin daily looks to be the most important single thing we can do to reduce cancer, after stopping smoking and reducing obesity, and will probably be much easier to implement," says Prof. Jack Cuzick. "If everyone aged between 50 and 65 took aspirin daily for ten years, there would be a 9% reduction in the number of cancers, strokes, and heart attacks in men, and around 7% in women." (In less positive news, research has recently suggested that bad luck plays a huge role in whether we get cancer.)

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